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Manual/Using Mods
A "mod" is an "add-on", a "modification" that changes one or more aspects of a videogame. Quake III Arena has support for mods, and id Software released an official (and commercial) mod called Team Arena for it (and many gamers created free mods for Q3A). Q3A and Q3:TA source code is now "free" (under GNU GPL license), so ioquake3 is born... and, even more important, OpenArena is born. So, OpenArena supports mods, like the game on which it is based. They can be written specifically for OpenArena, but many mods created for the orinal Q3A work also with OA! (Note: these mods could have some problems, for example missing textures). OpenArena itself includes some aspects form Team Arena (like game modes and weapons), but there is a mod studied to include more features from TA: it is called simly The Mission Pack. It is installed with OA, you can try it when you want. To find more mods for Quake 3 or OpenArena, you can search the Internet. Here are listed some: * Mods specifically written for OpenArena * ModCompat, compatibility tests results for mods written for Q3A (and, maybe, some other compatible games derived from id Tech 3 engine). How to install a mod You can place every mod into its own subfolder under OpenArena directory. Under Windows, this means that if your OpenArena is placed in C:\Program files\OpenArena (just an example, you can install the game in any folder you want! See also Manual/Install), you can find the .pk3 file of the mod called "missionpack" under the folder C:\Program files\OpenArena\missionpack. Note: in the directory of a mod you can find just few .pk3 files, or many files and subfolders (for example, modname\maps). It depends if the developer has "packed" many files into few compressed files or not... the game should work in both situations and you should not need to extract anything out of the pk3 files. Technically, a .pk3 file is just a .zip file with another extension. So, you can explore this kind of files with compression managers, but usually you don't need this (and making changes inside a pk3 could give you problems with the "pure servers"). However, you could wish to export images or sounds from the game, or learn how to make your own maps, models, or mods... Usually, you will download a mod inside a single compressed file (like ".zip", ".rar", ".7z"...). You can manage such files with various programs, for example 7-Zip is free. You will have to extract the content of this file inside the folder of OpenArena ''(be careful with the path: remember that Mods need a subfolder at "OpenArena/" instead of "Quake 3 Arena/".).'' Sometimes you will have to download and install multiple files (patches, extra maps...)... and you could need to install them following a specific order. Some mods could be downloaded as Microsoft Windows executable files (.exe). They could be "real" installation programs, or simply "self extracting archives": in the last case, you should also be able to "manually" open them with compression programs (like Winrar, 7-Zip, etc.), and extract them like normal .zip files (so you could be able to extract them even if you are not using Microsoft Windows). How to launch a mod When you want to play a mod, you can: * Launch OpenArena normally, then select "Mods" in the main menù and choose your mod from the list. Click "load". or * Launch the mod directly from the command line. For example, in Windows, you can do it from a command prompt or creating and modifying a shortcut to OpenArena.exe. For example, for "missionpack" the command line will be openarena.exe +set fs_game missionpack. Some mods will include one (or more, with various command-line options) Windows "batch file" (.bat or .cmd) that will automatically launch the mod if you execute it. Note: if the mod was designed for Quake 3 Arena, you will have to modify the batch file to replace "quake3.exe" with "openarena.exe". Configuration Each mod creates some configuration (like q3config.cfg) and log files. Check the various menus for options not present in the "base" game (for example, you could need to bind a mod-specific function to a keyboard key) for proper configuration. Refer to a mod's documentation for informations about its specific console commands. Under Microsoft Windows, you will find a mod's q3config.cfg file under %APPDATA%\OpenArena\ (for example, for "missionpack", a path could be C:\Documents and settings\username\Application data\OpenArena\missionpack under Windows XP). See also FAQ#Where are the configuration files saved?. Troubleshooting If you have problems, check our FAQ and Troubleshooting page, search for "readme" or "help" files inside the mods' folders, and check compatibilty notes in our pages about them here and here. You can also go to the forum. If your problem is that when you start any mod from the "Mods" menù, the sound stops working at all, please check here. See also * Manual/Install * FAQ * FAQ#How can I use maps, models, mods made for Quake 3 Arena? * Mods * ModCompat External links * How to make a Quake 3 Arena mod